


Never Be The Same

by jordahparrish



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, F/M, M/M, Threats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-07-29 09:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7678246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordahparrish/pseuds/jordahparrish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Izzy and Magnus have been best friends for years. Both of them watched as her older brother, Alec, changed from the silent 'loser' kid into one of the popular boys in high school. After Alec starts to show strange signs, Magnus and Izzy (with help from Clary and Simon) become curious and decide to investigate. <br/>Things definitely don't go the way Izzy ever expected them to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Simple Equation

Isabelle felt as though the only person she could truly trust was her best friend Magnus, even her older brother wasn’t to be trusted all the time. He was an attractive teenage boy with a smile that could make girls and boys alike shake with excitement, and thanks to his drop dead gorgeous looks he was one of those cliché popular kids.   
Alec was friends with a beautiful group of people, Jace Wayland was almost like the ringleader of the ‘popular kids’. They were all beautiful people and Isabelle had sometimes hoped she could be more like them – except nicer. It wasn’t that they were cruel, they just didn’t really know how to be nice. Although she wished to be a part of their group she was more than happy to stick with her own small group of friends, Magnus Bane, Clary Fray and Simon Lewis. Other students saw them as a nerdy group, but that didn’t matter as long as they made each other happy. Izzy could trust all of them, but she only trusted Magnus with the deepest secrets she had, and he was the one she went to when she had trouble figuring things out. He knew how to make her smile and she loved him for that. The love was in no way romantic.   
There was once a point where Izzy thought she might have had a crush on Magnus but that soon died down after she and Magnus had a long conversation on reasons why they wouldn’t be a suitable couple. They just didn’t fit together like that.  
She was perfectly happy being Magnus’ best friend, having friends like Simon and Clary by her side was helpful as well. She enjoyed having her friends around, she enjoyed it far more than just being with her brother.  
There was also a plus side of their sibling relationship, Izzy was the only person that knew Alec was gay. He had told her all about before there was any interaction between himself and Jace, so he couldn’t hold anything against her for too long because she knew secrets about him. But she’d never tell, outing her brother wasn’t exactly a way of getting revenge, instead, she vowed to herself that, no matter how much he pissed her off, she’d never tell a soul about his sexuality. Though, Magnus already knew as well. Before Alec’s crazed thirst for reputation, the trio regularly had long conversations. Magnus was present at Alec’s secret coming out, so he knew. He too promised never to tell a soul.  
It wouldn’t have been fair if he had because nobody knew that he was bisexual other than Izzy. Not in the beginning anyway.  
However, when their first day of Junior year (and the first day of Alec’s Senior year), Magnus vowed to Izzy that he was now going to live his life freely without being scared. He decided he would casually let people know he was bisexual without even letting the word slip out of his mouth, he had planned to say things such as ‘I met this guy over the summer and after a long session of flirting and several kisses, he told me he had a boyfriend’ and then continue on to say ‘similar thing happened with a girl I met, I thought we had a thing going on and then she just said that she had to meet her boyfriend’, neither story was true. Magnus had, in fact, spent his summer in England with some other friend of his. Again, Izzy was the only one that knew the stories were false because Magnus refused to lie to her. He let Clary and Simon believe it, telling them stories was always going to be a fun part of his days.  
“I can’t believe both of them did that to you,” Simon scoffed, “people nowadays.”  
“I suppose if you had known they were in relationships, you wouldn’t have tried anything, right?”  
“Of course, biscuit,” Magnus tutted, “but they were, it was a painful reminder, we can’t always get what we want.”  
“Oh well,” Clary shrugged, “there are plenty more people out in the world, huh? That reminds me, so I went to Garroway camp over the summer – because Luke obviously runs it and he asked mom to work there, and I had a camp love.”  
“Oh really?” Simon eagerly looked at the redhead, “what was his name?”  
“ _Her_ name was Priscilla, I know, not the prettiest name, but she had a really pretty face. She reminded me of Izzy.”  
Izzy hesitated but eventually gave Clary a smile, “glad to know you’d hook up with me.”  
“Tall and lanky straight ahead,” Simon suddenly nudged Izzy. Izzy spun around and saw her brother walking through the hallway towards their group, “what’s it going to be Lightwood? Do we let him pass through the middle or make him go around?”  
“Middle,” Izzy quickly answered, the group split into two, Clary and Simon on one side, Izzy, and Magnus on the other. Alec didn’t even look at any of them as he passed through them.  
“What’s up his butt today?” Clary asked, almost innocently.  
“I don’t know,” Izzy shrugged, “well I know he didn’t have breakfast this morning.”  
“Missing breakfast? That’s bad, the boy is probably lacking energy,” Magnus began to mumble as he reached into his bag, he then held out a chocolate bar to Izzy, “not healthy, I know, but if he needs the energy.”  
“You want me to approach my brother in school? Ha, no chance,” Izzy crossed her arms and turned away.  
“I’ll do it,” Clary snatched the chocolate from Magnus and then proudly marched down the corridor. Her friends watched, terrified, as she tapped Alec on the shoulder. He turned around and glared down at her, “hi, Izzy said you didn’t eat breakfast this morning and we thought that you might be lacking energy so I have this for you,” she held out the chocolate bar. Alec looked down at the candy and then back to the redhead.  
“No thanks,” he turned away and continued walking down the corridor.  
“But you have practice after school, you’ll suck if you have low energy!” Clary followed him down the corridor.  
Alec stopped again, he spun back to Clary and began walking towards her as he spoke, “I said no, so just take your stupid candy, I’m not hungry.”

***

Clary returned to her friends and gave them a sweet smile as she held up the chocolate bar, “he didn’t want it.”  
“Of course he didn’t,” Izzy rolled her eyes, “Alec being offered chocolate from a dork, he’d check himself into the hospital before even swallowing a bite.”  
“Really?” Simon raised an eyebrow and Izzy began to chuckle as she shook her head.  
“Maybe he just doesn’t like Clary,” Magnus reasoned, he watched as Clary was offended.  
“Why wouldn’t he like me?”  
“You’re short, cute and annoying. All things opposite to Alec,” Magnus waved his hand, “you see, he’s tall, hot, and boring.”  
“You think my brother’s hot?” Izzy widened her eyes as she looked at Magnus, “gross.”  
“He kind of is,” Simon agreed, “in like a brooding sort of way.”  
“Do all of you think my brother is hot?”   
“I don’t,” Clary raised her hand proudly.  
“Thank you,” Izzy smiled gratefully to Clary, she was about to start speaking but paused when she saw Lydia Branwell rush past them. Lydia was also one of the popular group, but she was probably the kindest one, “Lydia!” Izzy shouted and the girl turned around, she smiled as she approached the Juniors.  
“You called?”  
“Is something up with Alec? As his sister, I feel like I have a right to know,” Izzy let out a sigh and then watched Lydia’s face change. It changed to an expression that Izzy translated as ‘yes but I can’t tell you’, then she shook her head.  
“Nothing for you to worry about,” Lydia kindly placed a hand on Izzy’s shoulder, “I’ll see you around.”  
The blonde then ran off down the hallway, it was obvious to Izzy that she was chasing after Alec. As much as Izzy wanted to care, she could only imagine what happened with her brother. She glanced around, wondering if she’d see Jace run past anytime soon. After a moment, she did, he maneuvered through the crowd easily. Moving from side to side to dodge anyone that was in his path.  
“Okay, seriously, what is going on right now?” Simon looked baffled as he watched the blond move through the hallway.  
“Let’s find out,” Magnus moved forward through the crowds of high school students, he turned the corner curiously – Lydia was stood outside the door of the boy’s bathroom, as Magnus had turned the corner Jace ran inside.   
“Alec’s obviously in there,” Izzy crossed her arms as she watched Lydia glance around the corridor, “but Lydia probably won’t let anyone other than Jace in there, if something’s up with Alec, they can’t risk the entire school finding out.”  
“Your brother’s friends are super dramatic,” Simon pushed his glasses up as he watched the girl outside the bathroom, “can we distract her?”  
“I don’t want to risk it,” Izzy shook her head, “definitely not. Should I even be caring about my brother? I mean really? It’s Alec. He’s a bit of a dick.”  
“A bit,” Magnus repeated and laughed, “he’s a massive dick.”  
The group of four watched carefully and eventually both Jace and Alec came out of the bathroom, Izzy struggled to figure out what happened as both of the boys were turned away from them, she saw Jace had his hand on Alec’s back. He patted the taller boy’s back before moving away. The trio then began to move down the corridor at a much slower pace than they had been moving before. Izzy’s curiosity got the best of her, she wandered down the hallway after them. Clary, Simon, and Magnus were hesitant to follow but eventually they found themselves behind her.  
Eventually, they were close enough so they could hear the conversation, but they were stopped in their tracks when they were spotted and stopped by Raphael Santiago. He wasn’t exactly in part of the popular group, he was more like a bouncer for them.   
“Tell me why you kids are following Lydia, Jace, and Alec.”  
“Can’t even walk in the same direction as the popular kids anymore?” Simon snapped, holding his hands out, “this is ridiculous, listen boy, if I wanted to cause trouble – I’d cause it. Let me walk down the damn hallway with my freedom.”  
“I’m not stupid,” Raphael sneered at Simon, “why were you following them?”  
“I want to know what’s wrong with my brother,” Izzy admitted, Raphael went quiet and then raised his eyebrows.  
“That’s none of your business right now.”  
“He’s my brother.”  
“None. Of. Your. Business.”  
Raphael sent the group in the opposite direction, Magnus began to smile as they were walking, “it’s kind of odd, that something is wrong with Alec. He’s always… Well no happy, but proud to be moody, you know?”  
“Oh I know,” Magnus nodded, “dark, moody and handsome.”  
“Okay be honest,” Clary turned to Magnus with a raised eyebrow, “do you have a thing for Alec?”  
“My best friend’s brother? Don’t be absurd.”  
“It’s okay, Magnus,” Izzy shrugged, “you know he’ll probably never go for you.”  
“Ow.”  
“You know exactly what I meant.”  
“Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”  
“Okay, okay,” Simon raised his hand as though he were in class, “what would you do if Alec did ask you out?”  
“Say yes, obviously.”  
“Why?” Izzy furrowed her brows, “you said he’s moody.”  
“I think I could find the inner kindness.”  
The other three of the group first reacted with unsure ‘ew’ sounds, but then they began to laugh once Magnus pulled a face at them. They made their way to their class, changing the subject as they walked.


	2. Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec tells Izzy why he's been miserable, Izzy promises to keep the secret, but are both of them telling the truth or not?

At the end of a rather boring day, Izzy waited outside of the school. Alec had been asked to give Izzy a ride home at the end of the day. He protested, to begin with, but eventually gave in. After five minutes of silence, after all of the other students had disappeared, Alec finally came out of the school. Izzy noticed how he looked more miserable than he usually did.  
“Come on then,” he waved her in his direction. She easily skipped over to him, hoping that if she was nice to him, he might cheer up. Instead, however, he just seemed to ignore her smile.  
“Alec… Are you okay?”  
“I’m fine.”  
“Are you? Because earlier we saw you come out of the bathroom with Jace and it looked like he had been comforting you. What happened?”  
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Alec responded in a monotonous tone, he unlocked his car and finally looked at Izzy as he opened his door, “so please don’t ask questions.”  
They both sat down in the car at the same time, Izzy turned to Alec as she pulled her seatbelt, “but I care about you, I worry about you.”  
“That’s a good joke,” Alec faked a laugh, “seriously Izzy.”  
“I’m not usually this worried about you Alec, but today you’ve been more miserable and grumpier than usual!”  
“You don’t want to know.”  
“Yes, I do!”  
“No, you don’t!”  
“Try me.”  
“Izzy…”  
“Tell me what’s going on with you, Alec!”  
“I slept with a guy and we didn’t use protection, yesterday he sent me a message telling me I should get tested because he has an STD.”  
Izzy blinked, trying to process her brother’s rage, she slowly nodded, “okay…”  
“If I have an STD, mom and dad will kill me. Everyone in school will turn against me, they’ll call me a slut. I told Lydia and Jace about him, they care. Others won’t.”  
“Alec…”  
“It’s stupid that I’m so upset about this,” he let out a sighed and leaned back in the driver’s seat, “but listen, if you tell any of your stupid little friends about this, I will personally make sure your life is over.”  
“They’ll never know,” Izzy held her hand over her heart and smiled as Alec finally started the car.

***

Izzy planned to meet up with Clary, Simon and Magnus at the playground that night. It was fun just to go and feel like kids again. She and Clary sat down on the swings, they didn’t put much force into the swinging – they just let it rock backwards and forwards as they spoke.  
“So did you find out what happened with Alec?”  
“No, I didn’t want to push him," Izzy had made a promise to Alec, as tempting as the secret was to tell.  
“Sucks, what if… What if someone’s bullying him?”  
“Bullying a popular kid? As if.”  
“What if he’s having a teenage crisis and is confused about his sexuality!”  
Izzy paused and raised an eyebrow, she knew about Alec's sexuality already - in fact, she and Magnus were the only ones who knew, “hold on… Hey, Magnus!”  
“Yes?”  
“Can I talk to you for a second?”  
Izzy and Magnus moved into the corner of the fenced area, “Alec said we were the only two people that knew about his sexuality, right?”  
“Right…”  
“Well, and you can never let him know I told you, but he told me that he had sex with a guy the other day and some stuff went down, but he said that Lydia and Jace still cared about him.”  
“So he told them?”  
“No, I don’t think he did,” Izzy hummed, “what if he was lying to me?”  
“Now, Izzy.”  
“He could have been,” Izzy shrugged, “no way would Alec risk his friendship by telling Jace and Lydia. He’s scared they’ll be homophobic.”  
“That’s stupid,” Magnus shook his head, “it’s 2016.”  
“There are still homophobic people in the world.”  
“Jace made out with that Meliorn dude at a party once,” Simon suddenly interrupted the conversation, “he’s not homophobic.”  
“Did you-“  
“Hear everything? Not everything, but a few things.”  
“Crap,” Izzy closed her eyes, “so…”  
“So, Alec’s gay?” Simon asked curiously.  
“No,” Magnus shook his head quickly, covering for Alec’s secret, “no we were just talking about the possibilities, you know what could be wrong with Alec? Is he hiding a secret sexuality? No, because he’d be scared that Jace and Lydia would be homophobic so he wouldn’t tell them about that, would he? Who knows what’s up with that kid.”  
Simon pulled a face, “alright then, but Jace and Meliorn did make out, they were both sober.”  
“That’s nice,” Magnus hummed, “good for them. Anyway, didn’t your mother teach you not to eavesdrop?”  
“Never,” Simon tutted, “look if you guys find out what’s wrong with Alec… Take care of him.”  
“I will,” Izzy nodded, “but if I find out, I might not be able to tell you guys.”  
“Understandable,” Simon and Magnus both nodded.  
Izzy smiled at the two boys and then made her way back to the swings, “sorry about that.”  
“It’s alright,” Clary gave a sweet smile, “ secret stuff, I get it,” she gave Izzy a wink and then began to push herself on the swing. Izzy let herself chuckle as she copied Clary, she swung her legs out as she moved forward and back on the swing.


	3. The Locker Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Magnus arrives early to school, he doesn't expect company, but the company he does get ends up being perfect company.

Magnus was earlier than usual to school, he was stood by his locker in the empty hallway thinking to himself what he could do whilst he waited for his friends. He stopped himself from moving when he heard footsteps. There was another person in the school, nothing to be scared of. He looked up to greet the fellow student with a smile. The person who walked around the corner was definitely not who Magnus expected. It was Alec.  
When Alec caught sight of Magnus he stopped in his tracks.  
Magnus awkwardly waved his hand to the boy, “hey there, didn’t expect anyone else so soon.”  
“I had to do something,” Alec mumbled in his low voice, he moved towards Magnus. As Alec passed, Magnus followed him.  
“So now you’re not surrounded by your popular friends, can we talk about something?”  
“Absolutely not.”  
“Please.”  
“No.”  
“It’s about sexuality!”  
Alec stopped and turned to Magnus in a threatening manner, “it was you, wasn’t it, of course, it was. You and Izzy are the only ones who know so, of course, it’s you!”  
“What?”  
“You’re the asshole who’s threatening me, huh?” Alec managed to back Magnus up against the locker, “how dare you!  
“I… I didn’t-”  
“Didn’t what? Didn’t think before you sent me those messages,” Alec had his arm across Magnus’ chest holding him back against the lockers, “huh? Didn’t think it would affect me? Well, guess what, it did. So you got what you wanted!”  
“Alec!” Magnus pushed back on Alec’s arm, “I didn’t do whatever you think I did,” he was trying to hold back the fear as he looked up at the taller boy, “I just wanted to talk to you. You see, I’m bisexual and I just thought you might be able to help me with my sexuality.”  
Alec dropped his grip on Magnus, “you… did?”  
“Yes.”  
“Oh…”  
“So, is that what your misery is about? Someone’s been threatening you?”  
Alec let out a sigh as he backed away from Magnus, “yes… I’ve been receiving messages from an unknown number. The messages are just saying stuff like ‘I know your secret little gay boy’.”  
“Lydia and Jace, do they know?”  
“They know I’m being threatened, but not that it’s about my sexuality.”  
“Oh,” Magnus nodded slowly, “well then,” he stepped closely to Alec, “whoever this is, don’t let them get to you.”  
“They’re threatening to tell people, Magnus,” Alec let out a grunting noise, “so I have no idea what to do.”  
“I know it may be hard, but what if you came out to those who mean the most to you, Lydia and Jace?”  
“No, no, they won’t… They won’t accept me,” Magnus swore he could see tears in the taller boy’s eyes, “I can’t let anyone know.”  
“Alec, I don’t want to force you into this but if it stops whoever-“  
“They won’t stop, Magnus,” Alec whispered, “I came in early because I need to clean my locker in the changing room,” he frowned, “whoever it was, they spray painted my locker with profanities and then sent me a picture,” he unlocked his phone and brought up an image of the vandalism. Magnus looked at the picture and then turned back to his locker.  
“I’m guessing you don’t have a cloth to clean that with.”  
“I have to see if I can find the janitor.”  
“He won’t let you use his equipment,” Magnus shook his head and opened his locker. He quickly pulled out a grey shirt and screwed it up into a ball, “we can make do with what we have.”  
“A shirt.”  
“We can dampen it using the showers,” Magnus suggested with ease, “come on.”  
“You’re going to help me?”  
“Yes,” Magnus nodded, “you used to be my best friend, so of course, I’ll help you. Especially with something like this.”  
Magnus and Alec made their way to the changing room quickly, they looked around and then moved towards the vandalised locker.  
“Alec Lightwood is gay,” Magnus read the text aloud and let out a laugh, “that’s original.”  
“Shut up,” Alec pushed Magnus’ shoulder and made the shorter boy laugh slightly, after a moment Alec found himself trying to hide a smile.   
Magnus quickly turned on one of the showers and held the shirt underneath it until he was sure it was wet enough for him to start scrubbing the vandalism off of the locker. He moved over to the locker and tried to rub the marks off of the locker but it didn’t work.  
“We need something else,” Alec shook his head, “I’ll get into the janitor’s closet, there’ll be something that will help us.”  
“Alec…”  
“Trust me,” Alec winked and ran out of the changing room.  
As Magnus waited, he thought of Alec’s smile, he had managed to make the boy seem less miserable by offering to help. It was a great feeling, making Alec happy. He enjoyed being by Alec’s side in those moments.   
Alec returned triumphantly holding some cleaning products, “let’s try to be quick,” he paused, “but we only have your shirt…”  
“Easy solution,” Magnus pulled off his other shirt and ran over to the shower, he turned on the water and moved back to the locker. He paused, “I didn’t think this through.”  
“No, you didn’t,” Alec had a raised eyebrow, “easy solution,” he mimicked Magnus’ word and opened the vandalised locker, he pulled out his team shirt and held it out to Magnus but as Magnus reached out to take it Alec took it back, “that’s probably not the best idea,” he took off the black shirt he was currently wearing and gave it to Magnus, “there you go,” he pulled on his own team shirt and gave Magnus a smile, “let’s get cleaning.”  
“Thank you,” Magnus pulled on Alec’s shirt, trying not to seem to happy about the exchange of clothes.  
The two boys began scrubbing the vandalism, hoping it would disappear soon enough, they began to have multiple conversations some being about Izzy, some about Lydia and Jace. Eventually, Magnus let out a chuckle and let his curiosity slip out.  
“So, why did you tell Izzy you slept with someone?”  
“What?” Alec turned to Magnus sharply.  
“Uh...”  
“I told her not to tell anybody, not even you, especially not you. She goes and tells you guys straight away, she couldn't just tell a lie?”  
“Technically she did,” Magnus gave Alec a small smile, “since you told her a lie.”  
Alec, once again, tried to hide a smile from Magnus, “you're right.”  
“She only told me because she figured it was a lie.”  
“Did she tell you the entire secret?”  
“No, she just said 'Alec screwed a guy and other stuff came out of that',” Magnus shrugged, “apparently you had said that Jace and Lydia knew but she figured that you hadn't told them about your sexuality...”  
“I haven't, guess Izzy's a good detective, huh?”  
“She is,” Magnus nodded, “so Jace and Lydia don't know what your threats are saying?”  
“No, they just know that someone keeps threatening me.”  
“I guess that's why you wanted to clean your locker?”  
“Yes,” Alec nodded in defeat.  
Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the boys had managed to finish cleaning the locker. There were still marks of spraypaint, but the message was no longer there.  
“Thank you,” Alec mumbled as he picked up the cleaning supplies.  
“And thank you,” Magnus gestured down to the shirt he was wearing.  
Alec hesitated to move, he pressed his lips together as he watched Magnus. Magnus was smiling up at Alec, expecting the taller boy to move away any second. Instead of moving away, Alec moved closer to Magnus. He slowly began to lean down.   
Magnus was shocked by the movement, but he didn't stop Alec. He had hoped that nothing would interrupt them but of course, fate had another idea. The two boys split apart suddenly as the door to the changing room opened, Alec gave Magnus an apologetic look before waving for him to leave. Magnus snuck around the other side of the lockers as Jace walked over to Alec's.  
“Hey, I thought you were in here buddy, what's with the cleaning supplies?”


	4. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy discovers something about Magnus whilst Alec discovers something about Jace and Lydia.

Izzy led the group over to the table they regularly sat at during lunch. She began talking about the class they had just had with Mr. Starkweather, pointing out the flaws in the answers. After a moment she noticed that Magnus wasn't focusing on her at all, he was staring off into the distance. She looked over her shoulder to see what Magnus was looking at. In direct view of Magnus, she saw Alec in his football jersey – which was odd because she had seen him early in the morning wearing a black shirt much like the one Magnus was wearing. Alec had left for school earlier than usual so Isabelle asked their dad to drive her to school that day, and luckily he agreed to. She didn't think Alec would change his shirt throughout the day. She glanced back to Magnus and raised an eyebrow.  
Clary hummed from her seat, she was scrolling through something on her phone, she looked up to Magnus a second after Izzy turned to him.  
“Magnus did you change shirts before you came in?”  
“Huh?”  
“You posted a photo this morning on Instagram but you're wearing a different shirt.”  
“Oh, this? Yeah, I was drinking coffee and I spilt it.”  
“Is that your spare shirt?” Izzy let out a laugh, “because it looks big on you.”  
“It is,” that was a lie, “but it's comfortable.”  
“Smells good too,” Simon mumbled as he leaned closer to Magnus, he looked at the two girls and shrugged as they stared at him, “it really does, trust me.”  
“Let me smell that,” Izzy grabbed Magnus by his shirt and curiously sniffed the shirt, she leaned back again, “huh, smells like my brother's ro... MAGNUS WE NEED TO TALK, WE NEED TO TALK RIGHT NOW!”   
Izzy stood and walked away from the table, Magnus followed her after pulling a face to Clary and Simon.  
“What's this about?”  
“You were staring at Alec. Alec was wearing a black shirt like this earlier this morning. And on top of all that, your shirt smells like Alec! What are you playing at? Tell me.”  
“I helped Alec with something this morning, when I messed up my shirt he let me wear his, not that big of a deal.”  
“Then why are you staring at him as though he's the most beautiful thing in the world?”  
“Because he kind of is.”  
“Magnus... Promise me you don't have a crush on my brother.”  
“Listen, Iz, he's just... a really attractive-”  
“Dick, I thought we agreed he's a dick.”  
“He was nice to me this morning.”  
Izzy crossed her arms, “Magnus, please, at least promise me you won't end up like them.”  
“Never,” Magnus held out his pinky finger to Izzy, “I promise.”

***

Lydia examined one of the chopped carrot pieces she had dipped in hummus before she ate it, as she chewed on her food she looked at Alec who had been fiddling with his food since they sat down. He was staring past her as he pushed the food around on the table. Lydia looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow when she noticed that his sister's friends were sat at the table he was staring at. She looked back to him and waved a hand in front of his face.  
“Yo, tall and lanky,” she clicked her fingers, “what's on your mind?”  
“Hmm?”  
“What is on your mind?”   
“Oh...” Alec let out a small laugh, “just uh...”  
“Is it about Izzy? Does she know about the threats?”  
“No, I actually told her that I got an STD from sleeping with someone.”  
“Maybe you should just tell her the truth, she is your sister.”  
“No, no it's okay, I've got you and Jace.”  
As if on cue, Jace sat down at the table, “what's up with our lanky puppy?”  
“Ha. Ha.” Alec drily replied as he glared at Jace, “nothing's wrong.”  
“Have you received another threat? Because I swear if you have...”  
“No,” Alec shook his head, he gave the pair a smile, “nothing since the locker vandalism.”   
“Locker vandalism,” Lydia coughed, trying not choke on her food, “uh, what?”  
“I got a text from someone last night, they sent me a picture of my locker and they had spray painted some... Stupid shit on there.”  
“We need to find out who's doing this,” Lydia crossed her arms, “you don't think it's one of your sister's friends, do you?”  
“Don't be stupid,” Alec shook his head, “they're too scared to mess with me.”  
“Big scary Alec,” Jace joked, he let out a laugh, “there's someone that isn't scared of you, and whoever that is – I'm going to kill them.”  
Alec rolled his eyes, “you guys are dramatic, aren't you?”  
“Indeed,” Lydia gave him a wink.  
“Hey guys,” Camille welcomed herself to the group's table, she sat down with an evil-looking smile spread across her face, “have you heard about that Magnus kid?”  
“Bane?” Alec asked, he wondered what news Camille could possibly have about Magnus. He was suddenly terrified, what if someone had caught them in the locker room before Jace came in, what if someone knew that Alec was going to kiss Magnus.  
“Apparently he's bisexual,” she started to laugh, Jace raised an eyebrow as he looked at her.  
“So?” Jace gave a quick shrug, “I'm pansexual, what's the 'big thing' about Magnus being bi,” Alec raised both of his eyebrows as he heard Jace's confession.  
“Pansexual?” Camille raised an eyebrow, “and that is...?”  
“You're too ignorant to get it,” Lydia leaned forward to look at Camille.  
“Wow,” Camille scoffed, “I think it's stupid, bisexual, isn't that just...”  
“Don't say it, for the love of God, don't say it,” Lydia whispered to herself.  
“Selfish? Like choose one of the other.”  
Lydia let out a screech-like sound before turning to Camille, “you're stupid, just stupid! Ignorant too, I actually think I hate you.”  
Camille rolled her eyes and stood up again, “whatever,” she moved away from their table. Alec watched as Jace and Lydia began discussing Camille's ignorance. He looked between them and started to find himself smiling.  
“You guys... You think she was ignorant.”  
“Yes,” Jace answered as though it was the stupidest statement he had heard, “don't you?”  
“You guys aren't... homophobic? Or biphobic? Or....”  
“Of course not,” Lydia tutted, “just because we're popular, that doesn't mean we're homophobic or straight for that matter. Did you think we were?”  
“Yeah, I did,” Alec paused and leaned forward to his two friends, “ I had no clue you were Pansexual," he looked to Jace and gave him a small smile, "so you guys would still like me if I was gay?”  
“We like you for you,” Jace replied quietly, “your sexuality doesn't get in the way of that.  
“Wow,” Alec let out a small chuckle, “I've been so stupid.”  
“Oh?” Lydia started to smile, “well Alec, tell us what you need to.”  
“In case you didn't already figure it out, I'm gay,” Alec whispered, just loud enough for the two friends to hear.  
“Aw,” Lydia leaned back happily, “thank you, for trusting us.”

***

As soon as Magnus returned home he threw his own two shirts into the laundry, he could hear his father in the living room but he decided to run straight upstairs to his bedroom, for no other reason than to be alone with his thoughts. He closed his door and dropped his bag onto the floor. He paused to look in the mirror, his first thought was that he looked good in Alec's shirt. He'd have to return it to Alec the next day. He pulled the shirt off and folded it, he put it down on the desk before moving to his bed. He ended up lying down on his bed, deep in thought. His thoughts were mostly about Alec and the smile he had given whilst they were cleaning the locker.  
Alec wasn’t being a dick to him. It was honestly a miracle.   
Magnus turned over and looked at the shirt he had placed on his desk, it wouldn’t hurt to make the most of this chance. He reached across and grabbed the shirt. Without a second of hesitation he held the shirt close to him. He had to admit that Alec’s smell was definitely one he preferred. He couldn’t pinpoint what the scent was exactly, but it was nice, and it was definitely Alec. Magnus was just glad that he hadn’t changed the scent when he had been wearing the shirt.   
He was curious to know what it would be like to date Alec, would it be like a dream or like a nightmare. Would Alec be there for him or would he have to mould his life around Alec’s?  
He shut his eyes as he held the shirt close. He quickly remembered how close he had been to kissing Alec, the way the taller boy had leaned down towards him. Could it have been true? Did Alec like him in that way?  
Magnus opened his eyes, he had to return the shirt to Alec in the morning – but Alec probably wouldn’t want people seeing the exchange. He pulled out his phone and typed in Alec’s name on the messenger app, they were surprisingly friends on Facebook – no matter Alec seemed to ignore him. He tapped out the message and hoped it didn’t seem too odd.

_Hey, so I can return your shirt tomorrow morning, I can sneak it into your locker before anyone else gets in if you’d like._

It was only a moment later when Alec replied.

_Yeah that’d be nice, thanks. I’d come in early but my dad yelled at me today for leaving early and not taking Izzy. Don’t worry about washing it by the way, I don’t imagine it smells too much :)_

Alec sent his locker combination to Magnus and then excused himself from the chat. Magnus found himself grinning as he locked his phone, Alec was definitely being nice to him. It seemed genuine and that made it far better.


	5. Remember Who Your Friends Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When stopping another attack on Alec, Magnus ends up making friends with people he didn't expect to like.

The next morning Magnus woke up, clutching the shirt close to him. Not long left with the shirt, perhaps after he exchanged it back Alec would lose interest in him, then again they did almost kiss. He let a smile grow on his face and then pushed himself out of bed. After changing into something that complimented his look, he ran downstairs with his bag and Alec’s shirt. He sat down at the kitchen table and ate his breakfast, he smiled up at his mother as she came into the room.  
“Hey mom, can I get a ride to school like… right now?”  
“I guess,” his mom let out a sigh, “why are you going in so early?”  
“I have some stuff I need to do,” Magnus shrugged.  
The ride to school was quiet, Magnus just enjoyed knowing that he could obviously be trusted by Alec.   
The school was empty, as he expected, he quietly moved around the hallways. He paused when he heard a noise, the sound of a locker closing. He peeked around the corner of the lockers and saw someone with a hooded jacket. They were walking away from Alec’s locker. Magnus quietly jogged up to Alec’s locker. From the outside, the locker looked fine. He opened the metal door and held back a gasp as he looked inside of the locker. There were multiple pictures inside the locker. They had been taken in the changing room the previous morning when Alec and Magnus were cleaning the locker. One of the pictures was of them both being shirtless, when they had swapped shirts. Another one was a suggestive one, it looked as though they were pressed together as they were cleaning the locker. Another one was taken just as Alec was about to kiss Magnus.   
“No,” Magnus whispered, he pulled the pictures down from the interior of the locker and folded them up. He slipped them into his pocket and placed the shirt inside of the locker. He closed the door and pulled out his phone. He clicked through to Alec’s name and sent him a quick message.

_They targeted you again, they had pictures of us in the locker room and they put them in your locker. But I took them down for you x_

Magnus suddenly became panicked as he looked at the kiss he added to the end of the message. It didn’t seem to phase Alec at all as he quickly replied. 

_Thanks, it means a lot that you’d keep an eye out for me. Thank you so so much x_

Magnus smiled, he leaned back against the lockers and let out a small laugh.  
“I wonder if he likes me,” he mumbled to himself, “but if he does, then Izzy probably won’t want me to be dating her brother.”  
Magnus let out a relieved sigh. He closed his eyes, after a short while he heard someone in the hallway again – perhaps it was Alec’s tormentor. He looked down the hallway and saw Jace Wayland wandering down the hallway whilst staring at his phone.  
It couldn’t have been the blond boy, could it?  
Magnus stepped away from Alec’s locker and cleared his throat, he instantly captured the attention of Jace.  
“Oh hey,” Jace waved politely to Magnus, “Matthew, right?”  
“Magnus.”  
“I was close,” Jace pulled a face, “what are you doing here so early?”  
“Extra work,” Magnus gave a half-hearted shrug.  
“Extra work in the hallway?”  
“Well… What are you doing here early?”  
“I always get here early,” Jace shrugged.  
“Really?” Magnus raised an eyebrow, “strange that…”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Alec’s tormentor always seems to be making attacks early in the morning.”  
“Wow, are you accusing me of- How do you even know about that? Alec only told Lydia and I,” Jace stepped closer to Magnus, threatening him with a look.  
“He told me yesterday morning.”  
“And why would he do that?” Jace crossed his arms, “it makes far more sense for you to be the tormentor.”  
“Well, I’m not, in fact, I just saved him from another attack so-“  
“Why would he tell you?” Jace repeated his question, “tell me why.”  
“Because he can trust me.”  
“Can he?”  
“I was helping him yesterday morning,” Magnus admitted, “and he told me everything.”  
“I highly doubt he told you everything,” Jace rolled his eyes.  
“I reckon I know more than you do,” Magnus began challenging Jace.  
“Doubt it.”  
Magnus shook his head and turned away from Jace, “I know a lot about Alec. Before you guys absorbed him into your popular group, he was close to me.”  
“That doesn’t make a difference.”  
Magnus and Jace ended up walking in the same direction as each other, they ended their disagreement about who knew more about Alec. After a moment of awkward silence, Jace let out a sigh.  
“Do you think Lydia, Alec and I are cruel?”  
“A bit.”  
“Why?”  
“Because you just are, you’re those bitchy popular kids.”  
“But we’re not,” Jace murmured, “people only think that because we’re popular, and we're only popular because Alec and I are on the football team and Lydia’s a cheerleader.”  
“Prove you’re not bitchy.”  
“I’m talking to you, if I was a bitchy person – I wouldn’t be doing that.”  
Magnus shook his head, he let out a small laugh, “alright, I’ll give you that.”  
“Who do you think the tormentor is then?”  
“I don’t know,” Magnus pressed his lips together and turned to Jace, “but I suggest we both agree to look after Alec. As tall, dark and handsome as he is –he’s fragile.”  
“Woah, you think Alec is tall, dark and handsome?” Jace raised an eyebrow suggestively.  
“Yeah,” Magnus then shook his head, “but, obviously, as you know, we would never be a thing since Alec likes girls,” Magnus lied to Jace, he wondered if Jace could see through the lie at all.  
“Yeah,” Jace nodded slowly, “sorry buddy,” Jace paused as Magnus continued walking, Magnus turned and looked at Jace. He was crouched down picking something up from the floor, “what’s this?”  
Magnus saw him picking up a folded photograph, he leapt forward and tried to snatch the photo from the blond’s grip, but at the same time Jace moved back slightly. He began unfolding the photo. Magnus stared in shock. He knew what the photo was, which is why it terrified him so much. Magnus didn’t know exactly what photo it was, but either whatever one it was, it could ruin Alec’s secret. Jace examined the photo and then looked back up to Magnus, he raised an eyebrow to the boy.  
“So…”  
“Look that picture is uh…” Magnus couldn't think of an excuse, he stumbled over words but Jace just gave him a look with a raised eyebrow.  
“This picture is proof, you know what I know.”  
“And what do you know?” Magnus shuffled his feet awkwardly as he tried to avoid eye contact with the blond boy.  
The blond began to smile, he placed an arm around Magnus's shoulder and pushed him slightly so that they were moving again, “well,” he held out the photo for Magnus to see, “look at this picture, what do you see?”  
Magnus looked at the photograph, it was the one where he and Alec were about to kiss. He turned to Jace and let out a nervous laugh, “I don't know what you mean.”  
“You're both looking at each other like,” Jace paused to pull an expression close to the expressions in the picture, “so you know about Alec's sexuality?”  
“You know too? He told you?”  
“Yeah, yesterday during lunch. When did he tell you?”  
“I don't know, like a year ago maybe? Well, less than that but-”  
“Really?”  
“Before he was friends with you guys, he told Izzy and I.”

***

Not long after the boys began having their conversation about Alec, Lydia showed up in the corridor. She bounded over to the boys with a grin on her face.  
“I never thought I'd see you two hanging out together,” she let out an almost childish laugh, “strange but... Nice.”  
“We were discussing everybody's favourite tall person,” Jace held out his arms and then gave Lydia a wink.  
“Alec?”  
“Yep,” Jace nodded, “Magnus knows... What Alec told us yesterday.”  
“Did you tell him?” Lydia gave a look of disbelief, she seemed to be prepared to slap Jace but the Magnus quickly shook his head.  
“No, no, Alec told me a while ago.”  
“Before he was popular,” Jace let out a tutting sound, “which Magnus still has resentment for.”  
Magnus glared at Jace, the blond boy then held out his hand to Lydia. It was too late before Magnus realised he was showing Lydia the photo.  
“He saved Alec from another attack this morning.”  
“Oh?” Lydia looked at the boys and then down to the photograph, “oh,” she repeated the word but the tone had changed to realisation as she saw the image.  
“I...” Magnus wanted to explain but he gave up quickly, “the tormentor had managed to take pictures of Alec and I, we were cleaning his locker yesterday. There are pictures that could be seen as suggestive, but they're not.”  
“He looks like he's about to kiss you,” Lydia pulled a face.  
“I think he was, but someone,” he turned to Jace sharply, “walked in and ruined it for us.”  
“Oh damn,” Jace pulled back, remembering that he had walked into the locker room, “I stopped you guys from kissing? I'm so sorry!”  
Lydia gave Jace a disappointed look, “you stopped our baby Alec from getting with someone.”  
Magnus found himself grinning as Lydia continued to tell Jace off for getting in the way of Alec's chance at possible romance.

***

The trio had sat down on a bench by the time other students had began pouring into the hallways, when Jace caught sight of other students he passed the photo back to Magnus and patted him on the back.  
“Alec's lucky to know someone like you, no matter how much you supposedly despise each other, you'll look out for him.”  
“He doesn't deserve to be bullied,” Magnus quietly responded. Lydia then jumped up and pulled Jace up from the bench.  
“We'll see you around Magnus, I don't want to upset your friends too much,” she gave him a sweet smile and a pat on the shoulder, “and good luck with the entire Alec thing.”  
“Thanks,” Magnus stayed seated as the two blondes left him by himself. He glanced over to his left when he heard the familiar dorky impressions of Simon and Clary, it was obvious they had been watching a cheesy horror film the previous night. Magnus slowly stood up and made his way over to the pair, he smiled as he reached them, “hey kids.”  
“Magnus!” Simon cheered, he jumped up to hug Magnus, “how are you doing, buddy?”  
“I'm doing good, you're acting as though you haven't seen me for weeks, we literally saw each other yesterday.”  
“Simon had a dream that you died,” Clary rolled her eyes, “like a proper cheesy horror movie death.”  
“Wow,” Magnus let out a laugh, “that won't be happening anytime soon, trust me.”  
“You can never truly know,” Simon gave a shrug.  
“Where's Izzy?”  
“Waiting for Alec,” Clary answered quickly, “she'll be here soon, apparently he shut himself in the bathroom for a while,” she began to whisper, “so, something's totally up with him.”  
“Yeah, but it's not exactly our place to ponder,” Magnus defended Alec, hoping he didn't sound too out of place.  
“I suppose not,” Simon agreed.  
“I'm more worried than anything else,” Clary admitted in a whisper, “yes, he's one of the popular people, but he's Alec Lightwood – Izzy's older brother who used to make us hot chocolate and take us to the mall, he's a good guy.”  
“He is,” Magnus smiled brightly to the girl, “you're right.”

***

Izzy knocked on the bathroom door, obviously curious about her brother, “Alec, come on we need to get to school.”  
“Yeah, sorry,” Alec mumbled from the other side, Izzy stepped back as the door unlocked and opened. When Alec stepped out, Izzy could see that the boy had actually been crying.  
“Woah, are you okay?”  
“I'm fine,” Alec wiped his cheeks and gave Izzy a smile, “come on.”  
“No, wait,” Izzy placed a hand on her brother's chest, “is this about the... STD thing?”  
“Izzy...”  
“Mom and dad have taken Max to school, so I can talk about it,” she crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow, “did you get tested? Are you okay?”  
“Izzy... I don't have an STD.”  
“Then why are you crying?”  
“It doesn't matter,” Alec pushed past Izzy and ran down the stairs, he turned back as Izzy slowly followed him, “I lied about the STD story,” he admitted with a shrug, “I'm still a virgin.”  
“What?” Izzy stopped in the middle of the staircase, “you lied to me! Alec!”  
“Because I knew you'd tell Magnus,” Alec leaned forward on the bottom of the railing, “and you did, so you failed the sister test, come on.”  
“What do you expect?” Izzy began as she followed Alec, “Magnus and I are one, you tell me something and I tell him, he's part of me.”  
“I can probably trust him more than you,” Alec shrugged as he opened the front door.  
“Wow,” Izzy grumbled, she followed Alec out to his car wondering exactly what was wrong with him.


	6. Deciphering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At lunch, Izzy, Clary, and Simon try to decipher what is going on with Magnus whilst Lydia and Jace question Alec.

In the lunch break Izzy dropped her tray on the table and looked across to Simon and Clary, “my brother lied to me.”  
“Wouldn't be the first time,” Simon shrugged as he examined his apple.  
“He told me he had sex with someone and ended up getting an STD.”  
“Woah,” Clary chuckled, “really?”  
“Yeah he said that, but it wasn't true,” Izzy groaned, “where's Magnus?”  
“No clue,” Simon shook his head and bit into his apple, “I saw him disappear into the locker room earlier – he might have left something in there.”  
“The locker room? Are you kidding, Magnus doesn't regularly go in there, what if he's hurt?”  
“I think he's fine,” Clary mumbled as she had a mouthful of her sandwich, “see, speak of the devil and he shall arrive,” she pointed to Magnus who was just entering the cafeteria. She then cocked her head, “with... Lydia?”  
Izzy turned around to see Magnus. Clary was right, he wasn't just walking in with Lydia, he was having an animated conversation with her up until they parted. Lydia made her way over to her usual table and Magnus made his way over to the group of three.  
“Just act normal about it,” Simon waved his hand, “it's not that weird, Lydia's a nice girl.”   
Izzy frowned whilst Magnus took a seat beside her.  
“Hey,” Magnus smiled to the group.  
“Why were you talking to Lydia?” Izzy asked with no hesitation.  
Magnus stared at Izzy for a moment before giving a careless shrug, “just talking about stuff, stuff you don't need to worry about.”  
“I think we need to know,” Izzy crossed her arms as she turned to Magnus, she put on a threatening tone and almost glared at him.  
Magnus pulled a face, “Izzy, I don't tell secrets like you did.”  
Izzy stood up from her seat, “that's unfair you know I was curious about something!”  
“Something that was nothing to do with you.”  
Izzy stepped away from the table, she looked apologetically at Clary and Simon before picking up her bag and walking away.   
Magnus turned to Simon and Clary with a shocked look on his face, “maybe I was a little harsh.”  
“Little bit,” Clary nodded.

***

“He's sweet you know,” Lydia commented as she sat by Jace and Alec, “are you going to ask him on a date?”  
“What?” Alec glanced at the boy and the girl.  
“Oh right,” Jace let out a laugh, “look, we may have accidentally found out that you were going to kiss Magnus in the locker room yesterday morning. Magnus had collected the photos from your locker and he dropped on so I picked it up and curiously looked at it, he explained it to me.”  
“The photos of us in the locker room,” Alec mumbled, “right... Do you have the photos?”  
“No, Magnus does,” Jace pointed over to the table, Alec looked up to see Izzy stand up and walk away from her friends.  
Alec stood up and excused himself from his friends, he moved around multiple tables and sat down at the table where Clary, Simon, and Magnus were sat. Simon and Clary stared at him, looking almost terrified.  
“Hey,” he turned to focus on Magnus, “why did Izzy just walk away from the table?”  
“I may have said something...”  
“What?”  
“I said that I can keep secrets unlike her,” Magnus looked down to the table as guilt washed over him.  
“Right,” Alec looked at the other two friends who were awkwardly trying to start their own conversation, he held his hand out to Magnus, “can I have those photos you found?”  
“Yes, of course,” Magnus nodded and passed the folded photographs to Alec.  
“Thanks,” Alec stood up again and walked away from the Juniors.  
He sat back down in his seat opposite Jace and unfolded one of the photos, he groaned as he saw himself and Magnus shirtless when they were switching shirts.  
“I did not see that one,” Lydia jumped over to the seat next to Alec, “oh damn, he has a good body,” Lydia grabbed the photo and examined it closely.  
“Hey,” Jace pouted and snatched the photo from Lydia.  
“Sorry babe, he might have a better body than you.”  
Jace looked at the photo and then nodded, “good point.”  
Alec looked at the other two photos and then took the third one back, he put the photos into his pocket, “I don't understand how they took these photos, there was nobody else in there with us – I swear. It took us a while to clean the locker so they had to have been in there for a while if they were.”  
“If you ask me they look more like screenshots.”  
“What?” Alec turned to Lydia after she spoke.  
“Like it was a video and they took screenshots of it.”  
Alec nodded, “I get it, so... Maybe it is? If there was nobody else around then they could have easily fixed a camera. I suppose they would have had evidence of me freaking out and cleaning the message away.”  
“But he thought the scene with you and Magnus was far better than what he had planned,” Jace continued for Alec.  
“So, even when I feel safe, I have to be careful of what I do,” Alec let out a loud grunt.  
“No porn for you,” Lydia teased, “your tormentor will find a way to hack into your history.”  
Alec rolled his eyes at the blonde, “I don't watch it anyway.”  
“You don't?” Jace gave Alec a shocked look and then began to smile, “well boy, you're missing out on some hilarity.”  
“The way people talk to each other in porn is hilarious,” Lydia commented, she looked to Jace and mimicked what she had spoken about, “oh yeah, right there, right there. Baby, you're so big,” she ended up laughing at her own impression.  
“Promise me you'll never speak like that when we do it,” Jace pointed to Lydia.  
“Promise.”  
“Um,” Alec looked between Jace and Lydia, “I know you two had tension but... I didn't realise-”  
Lydia and Jace both laughed as they saw Alec's reaction, Lydia gave him her sweetest smile and reached out to place her hand over his, “don't worry Alec, we don't want to make you feel like a third wheel.”


	7. Kiss Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec decides to make a move, Izzy decides to make an apology.

“Shit!” Magnus yelled in the empty hallway, he slammed his hand against his locker and let out a grunt.   
“Uh,” Magnus spun around to see who else was present, it was Alec, “Can I ask, why you're still here?”  
“Mom was meant to pick me up, but she said work had to keep her late.”  
“Well, I can give you a ride home,” Alec shrugged, “if you'd like.”  
Magnus found himself smiling up at the older boy, “really?”  
“Yeah, it's not too much hassle. Plus, I think it would be nice if we could talk.”  
“About?”  
“About... Some stuff, come on,” he waved for Magnus to follow him down the hallway.   
Magnus hummed as he jogged to keep up with Alec, “wait, is Izzy still here?”  
“No, she went with Clary and Simon,” Alec answered as he pulled his car keys out of his pocket, “I can't believe what you said to Izzy earlier.”  
“I was getting angry that she was pressing for an answer. I didn't want to tell her that I was talking to Lydia about your bully.”  
“Fair enough,” Alec nodded, “I appreciate you keeping that secret for me, thank you.”  
“So that stuff you wanted to talk about...”  
“The locker room, you know... When I leaned in to...”  
“Kiss me?”  
“Yeah that, I was going to do that. I'm sorry that I didn't.”  
“It's okay, Jace interrupted us,” Magnus was smiling as he spoke, Alec actually speaking to him like a human – it was a change.   
The boys reached Alec's car and Magnus quickly hopped into the passenger's seat, Alec sat down in the driver's seat with a stern, 'don't even think about touching the radio', he began to chuckle as fear washed over Magnus.  
“I'm kidding,” he spoke in a softer tone and set a hand on Magnus's knee. Magnus froze at the contact but then began to smile again.   
“Serious Alec is very... Scary.”  
“I'm sorry,” Alec pulled a fake frown to Magnus and then started the car once they had both pulled their seatbelts on., “so I wanted to kiss you, in the locker room. In fact, I still do want to kiss you. Now, thinking about the attacks this tormentor is making – I need to be safe about it.”  
“You still want to kiss me?”  
“Yes, in safety.”  
Magnus slowly nodded and then began to grin as a thought came to his mind, “you know,” he turned to Alec as the car began to move, “my mom is working late and my dad won't be home until midnight.”  
“So?”  
“So, you can come into my house, we can... Try that kiss again.”  
“That sounds perfect,” it seemed impossible for Alec not to smile at the offer.  
The ride home would have been silent if Alec hadn't let Magnus know that he was, in fact, allowed to touch the radio – the threat was meant as a joke. So Magnus turned the car radio on, unsatisfied with anything the radio stations had to offer Magnus asked Alec if he had an aux cord. Alec pointed to the glove compartment in front of Magnus. Magnus quickly opened the compartment and pulled out the cord, once he had set his phone up he scrolled through his music until he found a song that caught his eye. As the song began, Alec turned to Magnus with a raised eyebrow.  
“What's this?”  
“Spring Awakening,” Magnus responded, “it's a musical.”  
“What's it about?”  
“Well, in basics, teenagers in 1800s Germany, a girl ends up getting pregnant, a boy ends up killing himself,” Magnus frowned at the thought, “but it's deeper meaning is about the ignorance of adults.”  
“Sounds... Charming, what's this song?”  
“Bitch of Living, it's one of my favourites.”  
“It does sound pretty good,” Alec had a cute half-smile show up on his face, “but you're not going to turn me into a musical theatre geek.”  
“I won't, and I'm not a musical theatre geek.”  
“You're a regular dork,” Alec commented, he let out a laugh, hoping he seemed playful.  
“Thanks,” Magnus laughed along with Alec and then began singing along to the song cheerfully.   
“You're a good singer,” Alec complimented Magnus but he seemed to be awkward about it, “I like your voice.”  
“Thank you,” Magnus stopped singing to grin over to Alec, “and I like your face.”  
Alec laughed and it made Magnus all types of happy. Alec began focusing on the road, whilst Magnus continued to sing along to the music. A few songs later Alec stopped outside of Magnus's his, he pulled the keys from the ignition and smiled over to Magnus, who had paused when the music stopped.  
“We're here.”  
“You knew exactly where I lived?”  
“I've dropped Izzy off here enough times.”  
“Of course.”

***

Izzy, Simon, and Clary had settled down onto Simon's couch, Simon and Clary were both gripping bowls of popcorn close to them whilst Simon was also flicking through Netflix trying to choose a movie.  
“Mono?”  
“A teen comedy?” Clary scoffed, “I think we should go to the horror section.”  
“You know what we should watch,” Simon suddenly gasped, “Killer Klowns from Outer Space!”  
“Yes!” Clary cheered.  
“Haven't you guys watched that already?”  
“Yeah, but you haven't,” Simon raised his eyebrows to Izzy, “settle down my beautiful girl and watch in wonder.”  
“Oh yes, I'm definitely going to be amazed by killer clowns,” Izzy shook her head, she let out a sigh and leaned back, “if Magnus were here, he'd talk you out of watching that film.”  
“Well he's not,” Clary shrugged, “he pissed you off, I thought you didn't want him here.”  
“I do and I don't.”  
“Just let him wallow in his misery, he'll realise his mistake,” Simon pointed to Izzy as he spoke, “he'll come back to you tomorrow, I'm sure.”  
“No,” Izzy sighed, “maybe I should be the one to apologise to him.”

***

They had barely been in the house for five minutes before Alec had leaned in to kiss Magnus, Magnus had, of course, instantly accepted the kiss. It took barely a minute for Magnus to lead Alec into the living room, they fell down onto the sofa and both of them began to chuckle. They broke apart as Magnus began to speak.  
“This is definitely... A relatively new experience for me,” he looked up to Alec with bright eyes.  
“Me too,”Alec admitted, “I mean... I know that being a jock would usually mean that I've had a lot of experience but I haven't.”  
“That's not a bad thing,” Magnus cupped Alec's cheek, “it's really not.”  
“Thank you,” Alec leaned into Magnus's hand. Magnus slowly leaned in to press a kiss against Alec's lips again. He moved his free hand to grip the collar of Alec's shirt and pulled the older boy forward as if the kiss could get closer than it already was. Alec placed his hand against Magnus's chest and pushed him down onto the sofa, they felt safe knowing that Magnus's family wouldn't be home for a while.   
“This might seem cheesy or cliché,” Alec commented as he pushed himself back up, “but can we like... put on some music or something? The silence makes me feel weird.”  
“Of course, we can put some music on,” Magnus nodded, he waited for Alec to move before he stood up from the sofa. He jumped up and moved over to the speaker system in the corner of the room, he plugged his phone into the cord that was attached to the speakers. He scrolled through his music before selecting a song to start on.  
“Smash,” he explained as he moved back to the sofa, “it was a show about Broadway, I have a few of the covers on my phone and also a few of thei-”  
Alec stopped Magnus by moving into a kiss again, they found themselves in the same position they had been in before. 

***

Izzy was already bored of the film, her mind only wondered what Magnus was up to in the moment – was he okay? Was he thinking about her? She might not find out the answer as easily as she hoped to. Around twenty minutes into the film, as one of the odd looking clowns was building a balloon dog (which ended up barking and acting like a real dog, not stupid at all), she stood up and looked at her two friends.  
“I'm going to go to Magnus's house, apologise for acting the way I did, I have no right to be nosy.”  
“Alright,” Clary nodded, “do you want me to come with you?”  
“No, it's okay, I'll survive on my own – besides, you guys should enjoy the movie.”  
“You're sure?” Simon leaned forward.  
“Yes, would I be able to borrow your bike, though?”  
“Don't see why not,” Simon shrugged and pointed Izzy through to the hallway before she could leave he though the keys to his bike lock over to her.  
Izzy ran through the hallway to the back door, she unlocked Simon's bike and quickly started on her way to Magnus's house. She didn't know how fast she was going, but it was fast enough that her task seemed urgent. As she made her way through various neighbourhood areas, she thought of Magnus again, would he forgive her easily? Would he be up for joining in movie night at the Lewis house? She imagined the forgiveness scenario playing out, perhaps Magnus would start crying and hug her. Perhaps he'd turn away from her or tell her to leave. Perhaps he would also apologise.   
It wasn't long until she was outside of Magnus's house. She locked Simon's bike up at the side of Magnus's house and wandered through to his backyard. She had thought, perhaps if she knocked, Magnus would look through the peephole and decide not to answer the door. So the back door seemed like a good idea. She knew where Magnus's parents kept the back door key so if it was locked, she could still find a way in.   
Luckily, it was open. She quietly moved through the house, not wanting Magnus to think she was an intruder – although she kind of was. As soon as she was in the house she could hear music playing from the living room. She made her way to the living room, she could picture Magnus dancing around to the music, having fun whilst he was alone. She knew that Magnus would be easily embarrassed if he was caught dancing around the living room. The door was only open a crack so she took a pause before bursting into the room, preparing to giggle as she caught Magnus dancing.   
“Magnus! I-”  
He wasn't dancing.  
He wasn't alone.  
He was nowhere near alone.  
“Oh my God, I'm so sorry,” She stared in shock at the two boys lying on the sofa, after a second she realised who was resting on top of Magnus, “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?”  
“Izzy,” Alec pushed himself away from Magnus and stood up, “listen.”  
“Ew, no! My brother? No!” Izzy backed away and then turned and ran out of the room.  
“Izzy!” Magnus called out for his friend and ran out after her, he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, “Izzy you can't ju-”  
“My brother of all people? Really?” Izzy crossed her arms and glared at Magnus, “I can't believe you.”  
“He's a nice guy.”  
“He's a popular jock, one of which we hate!”  
“I like him, I like him and I like Lydia and Jace as well.”  
“Why?”  
“Because they're all nice, we were blinded by our anger that Alec had left us for them, but he's fine, Jace and Lydia are fine.”  
Izzy shook her head and turned away from Magnus again, she ran out of his house and only paused when she had shut the back door. Magnus and her brother. Together.


	8. Not So Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy almost ruins her brother's secret, but before she can cause too much damage Alec's tormentor goes too far.

Simon and Clary weren't fully focusing on the film, but they knew it was at the part where one of the strange evil clowns was making a seductive shadow puppet to distract some men. Instead, the friends had focused on playing a game of word association.   
“Piccolo,” Simon started their third round off with a grin.  
“Pickle!”  
“Cucumber.”  
“Benedict Cumberbatch.”  
“Really?” Simon scoffed and crossed his arms.  
“Hey, that was funny,” Clary shrugged, “so I win this round.”  
“By being completely ridiculous,” Simon leaned back in the seat, “okay, you start this round.”  
Clary hummed in thought, finally she came up with an idea, “Alec.”  
“Izzy.”  
“Magnus.”  
“Traitor!” They both jumped when they heard Izzy's voice followed by a slam of the door.  
“Well that's convenient,” Clary mumbled, she looked over her shoulder as Izzy stormed into the room.  
“I can't believe him, why would he go and do this when he knows what they're like? He's going to become one of them, stupid and evil and popular.”  
“Do you, maybe, want to explain what you're talking about?” Simon curiously raised an eyebrow.  
“Magnus!”  
“What did he do?” Clary twirled her hair as she watched Izzy pace around the room.   
“He freaking... Ugh,” Izzy began mumbling, Simon and Clary gave each other an uneasy look.  
“The mumbling means she can't tell us,” Clary informed Simon, “I've managed to decode our little Izzy, been studying her expressions for what feels like years.”  
“Cute,” Simon commented about the two girls whilst Izzy continued to make rambling muttering noises, he leaned closer to Clary, “so, uh, when are you going to ask her out?”  
Clary looked at Simon, she was about to respond when Izzy turned to them again, “I don't get what's going on in his head!”  
“Neither do I,” Clary responded, pretending to understand exactly what Izzy was talking about.  
“Out of all people, all people, it had to be Alec!”  
“Woah, what?”  
“What?” Izzy turned to the pair with wide eyes realising what she had said, “you know, I should really go home, I kind of only came here to return your bike. I'm going to go now,” she ran from the room, leaving Simon and Clary alone with each other and confused. 

***

Alec hadn't planned to upset his sister, he knew that he liked Magnus, but if that was going to upset Izzy there wasn't much he could do about it. Sacrifice his sister's happiness or sacrifice his own. For now it would be his own. Going back to school the next morning would be easy, he'd walk in and play the game he usually played. Be the jock that everybody loves.  
Izzy had asked Clary if she could get a ride with her to school that day, Alec knew exactly why she did. She didn't want to be near to him since she walked in on him and Magnus.   
After a long drive by himself, Alec finally walked into college, barely expecting much of an arrival. The usual 'hey' from Lydia and Jace was obviously going to happen, it always did. Once he was in the hallway, however, he found a strange environment. People gathered around certain areas, a buzz of questions.   
“Alec,” Lydia ran over to the boy as soon as she had seen him, she seemed panicked and almost out of breath, “Alec, promise me you won't freak out?”  
“Freak out?”  
“Well, you see,” she glanced around, “the tormentor. He, or she, put pictures up around the school.”  
“What?”  
“Of you and Magnus.”  
Alec felt as though his world was falling around him, he looked around the hallways and then looked back to the small blonde, “Lydia... What do I do?”  
“You stay calm, you breathe, and you don't freak out.”  
Alec nodded, Lydia waved for him to follow, so he did. As he followed Lydia over to where Jace was stood, a girl stopped him.  
“Alec!” He recognised the girl as Maureen, one of Clary and Simon's friends, “look, whoever posted those pictures is an absolute asshole. Whenever you find out who's doing this, tell us, I'm sure everyone will beat his or her ass.”  
“Thanks?” Alec cocked his head and then walked away from the girl. He could hear many other people mumbling angrily, all asking who had the nerve to do something like this to someone.   
After a moment or so, he felt himself starting to smile, perhaps he didn't have to play the straight loved jock anymore, perhaps his sexuality didn't make a difference to how his fellow students viewed him.   
Further down the hallway he saw Magnus speaking with Simon, Clary and Izzy, it was obvious they were all talking about the photos – because who wasn't talking about them at a time like this. As Lydia stopped by Jace, Alec jogged down the hallway and smiled as he met the small group.  
“Hey,” he looked around to them all, “so the photos...”  
“Alec,” Magnus gave the older boy a sympathetic look, “I'm so sorry that this happened.”  
“It's okay,” Alec shrugged, “just hearing the comments from people, I know that I'll be accepted here, even if I am gay.”  
As the boys began interacting, Izzy cleared her throat and waved for Clary and Simon to follow her. Alec placed his hand on Magnus's shoulder and then leaned forward to kiss Magnus.   
However, before Alec could actually reach Magnus's lips, the younger boy pulled away.  
“Alec, look I'm sorry but I don't think this is fair to Izzy. She was so upset when she saw us together last night, I don't want to make Izzy upset – she's my best friend and... I''m sorry, but she's more important to me than you are.”  
Alec had finally opened up, feeling free to kiss Magnus in front of other students, but it backfired. Alec felt as though an elastic band had been wrapped around his heart and somebody had pulled it before letting it ping back.  
“Ma-”  
“I'm sorry,” Magnus looked away from Alec and quickly ran in the direction the trio has walked in.  
Alec looked back to his friends who were still stood where he had left them, they were watching him with pitiful expressions – so were many other people. It was obvious that everybody had just seen what had happened. He walked back over to Lydia and Jace, giving them a terrified look. A terrified, almost heartbroken look.   
“I uh... I can't believe that just happened.”  
“Neither can I,” Jace was obviously in some state of shock, “the boy goes from hearteyes to bitchface in the matter of... What, ten hours? What did you do?”  
“Nothing! I guess it's just because he doesn't want to upset Izzy, that's all.”  
“That's not really fair,” Lydia frowned, “Izzy's a great girl but, to make her happy you have to be unhappy?”  
“It's fine,” Alec shrugged, it wasn't fine. It wasn't fine at all. He now felt confident enough to try kissing Magnus in public, but the confidence blew up in his face and he was left feeling awful.


	9. Alec & Magnus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec confronts Izzy about her selfish attitude, possibly leading her to change her decision.

Alec sat in silence for the rest of the day, so everyone in the school knew that he liked guys now, and when he felt happy about it – Magnus didn't feel anything for him anymore.   
He drove Izzy home in silence, whenever the girl turned as though she was going to talk to him, he tuned out. When Alec pulled up outside their house it was pouring down with rain, he watched as Izzy ran inside to try and avoid the rain but he sat in the car thinking for a moment. After a few minutes, he slowly got out of the car, barely even caring about the rain. He pulled his bag out from the back seat and slowly made his way to the front door.   
Slamming the door behind him, he glared at Izzy as she was stood in the hallway. She cocked her head to the side, “what took you so long to get in?”  
Alec rolled his eyes and refused to answer her, he went to walk past her but she held out her arm to stop him. He turned sharply to her, “leave me alone!”  
“Wow, you have no right to be moody with me, Alec!”  
“Yes! I do! You are not the only one who has a right to be moody,” Alec looked around, noticing that his parents weren't home with Max yet, which meant he was safe to say the truth to Izzy, “I have a right to be upset because the one person who had actually made me smile more than anyone else is the one person that I can't have without upsetting you!”  
“You're upset because you want Magnus?”  
“Of course I do! I like him, I like him a lot, but I can't have him because he doesn't want to upset you! You can't let your brother and your best friend be happy, and why? Because you're selfish and only care about your own happiness.”  
“I do not, I care that if Magnus stays with you – you'll hurt him.”  
“I would never hurt him, I like him, I want to be with him,” Alec leaned back against the wall, “and you won't let me have him.”  
Izzy crossed her arms and watched her big brother carefully, “you really like him?”  
“Yes, how many times do I have to say it for you to understand?”  
“Alec... I'm so sorry.”  
“It doesn't matter now, after being publicly outed by some stupid asshole, I was publicly rejected by a boy I really like because he didn't want to upset you. Magnus won't want me now, it doesn't matter.”

***

The next day at school Izzy approached Magnus in the morning and pulled him away from anyone else, she looked right into Magnus's eyes before she began to speak.  
“About Alec...”  
“I told you, I'm not going to get involved with him.”  
“But I can't stop you two from happiness,” Izzy admitted, “it's not fair, you're the one person that makes Alec happy more than anything else.”  
"So, who are you and what have you done with Iz?"  
"Alec was almost sobbing last night, he wants you, I made my rock solid big brother cry."  
"I guess that task is nothing like spreading warm butter," Magnus hummed and leaned back against the wall, "he was almost crying? Really?"  
"Really, I messed up Magnus, I had no right acting moody about you and Alec, no right at all. If you guys make each other happy then... Then you should be with each other."  
Magnus felt a smile creep onto his face, he turned his head to look over to Alec who was trying to act casual around Jace, Lydia and even Raphael. The smile on Alec's face was obviously fake, not like it had been when he was with Magnus.  
Magnus slowly began to move towards Alec, through the crowd of students, he stopped behind Lydia, it was in that moment that Alec noticed him. He politely tapped Lydia on the shoulder and the girl stepped to the side.   
"Hi," he spoke quietly as he looked up to Alec, hoping for forgiveness.  
"Hey," Alec did his sweet little half smile that Magnus had noticed when they were in his living room, "so..."  
"I like you, a lot, and I want to be with you."  
"But Izzy..."  
"Izzy wanted me to talk to you again, she wants us to be happy - even if it's being together."  
"She wants me to be happy?" Alec glanced over the heads of other students to see his sister playing with a poster on the wall as though trying to distract herself. After a second he looked back down to Magnus and the smile went from a half smile to a full grin, "I want to be with you Magnus, I do."  
Magnus laughed and moved closer to Alec, "then let's be happy, huh?"  
"Yeah."


	10. The Tormentor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clary figures out who the tormentor is, and the group get some form of revenge.

Lydia and Jace moved away as Magnus and Alec began to speak, Lydia tapped her chin in curiousity, she wondered who in their high school would want to attack Alec. 

"What about Camille," Jace pointed over to the girl who was stood by her locker chatting to several other people, "she made that comment about Magnus being bi..."

"Perhaps," Lydia nodded, "what about Raphael? He's kind of close to us, it could be an inside job."

"But why would either of them want to hurt Alec like that?"

"Good question, Raphael knows if he hurt Alec, he'd be beaten up by you."

"Camille knows she'd lose any reputation if she hurt him," Jace mumbled, he glanced around the hallway, "but I don't know who else..."

"I can think of someone," Clary Fray jumped between the boy and girl, her red hair was tied back in a messy ponytail and it seemed that she had either been up all night or up early in the morning, "Alec ended up on the football team because of one thing and one thing only, my brother got kicked off because of his bad grades."

"Sebastian?" Jace cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, I don't talk to him much since he lives with my dad but... I know he was pretty pissed off. I also know that Sebastian used to come into school early or stay late so that he could play pranks on the coach."

"Pretty convincing," Lydia nodded her head, "what else have you got."

"One of my spray paint cans has gone missing and I heard about the graffiti on Alec's changing room locker, coincidental? Perhaps. But Magnus showed me this photo," she held the photo of Alec and Magnus scrubbing the graffiti off of the locker, "the graffiti is a navy blue, my can that went missing? Navy Blue."

"Sebastian Morgenstern is the tormentor?"

"Sebastian isn't even his name," Clary commented.

"Jonathan," Jace tapped his chin as he thought about the boy, "right, we called him Sebastian because after he went on vacation in the summer, he came back bright red from sunburn, oh man did we enjoy making fun of that."

"Sebastian probably hates Alec because Alec took his place on the team and also his place in his group of friends," Clary explained to the couple.

“That’s a good point,” Lydia was astounded by the information, “Sebastian is the biggest creep going, no offence Clary.”

“None taken, I hate him,” the redhead shot Lydia a look, “he’s been kind of… Stalker-ish in the past, he used to follow me around to keep an eye on me and I had no idea. It would have been easy for him to do the same to Alec.”

“All this because he was a terrible student,” Jace frowned, he glanced around the hallway, “we have to tell Alec, right now!”

Clary and the couple rushed towards Alec and Magnus who were sharing sweet smiles with each other in the middle of the hallway.

“Alec,” Lydia called the taller boy’s name, “we have some information on the traitor.”

Alec glanced down at the blonde girl, then across to Jace, and then to Clary, “well report it then, like a full on Sherlock investigation,” he gave a playful smile.

Clary stepped forward, eager to present her findings, “the photos of you and Magnus in the locker room, the colour of the spray paint on the locker looks black but it’s actually a navy blue, right Magnus?”

“Yes, my shirts are now stained blue,” he frowned at the thought.

“Well, I have a box of spray paints that I used when I was decorating Simon’s van, one of my paints went missing. I’ll give you one guess as to which colour it was.”

Alec got the hint easily, “Navy blue.”

”Bingo!” Clary pointed to him, “on top of that, Sebastian was super pissed when he was kicked off of the team, I was once visiting my dad and I heard him cursing about you,” she pointed to Alec, “I don’t know how I didn’t think of it sooner.”

Alec glanced around the hallway, “what else?”

”He knows where Magnus lives, there was one time he had to take me to Magnus’s, as much as he didn’t want me in his car.”

“And?”

”He’s basically a professional stalker! When I went out with my friends not too long ago, Sebastian stalked me and took photos, he sent the photos to my dad and then my dad sent them to my mom saying stuff like ‘get your daughter better friends, these lot are bad influences’.”

Magnus tapped his chin, “certified stalker, spray paint thief, angry jock, it all adds up Alec.”

Alec was in silence, finally he spoke, it was quiet and only just audible, “where is he?”

”I don’t know,” Clary began to speak but she was cut off by Alec yelling.

“Someone around here must know where the hell Sebastian Morgenstern is!” He waited for a response, but people just gave him puzzled looks, “come on people! Where is this sicko that outed me?”

The other students started to realise and all glanced around waiting for the disgusting tormentor. Finally, at the end of the hallway, the figure of the tormentor appeared. Alec glared at him.

The blond had a twisted smile on his face, his eyes open wide as he stared across the hall at Alec.

“Alexander, I’m so glad you finally caught up, you thieving brat.”

Alec let out a fake laugh, “yes, I’m the bad one here. Never mind your homophobic, disgusting stalker behaviour you’ve got going on!”

“Disgusting?” Sebastian approached Alec, receiving terrified glances from the students he passed, “oh no, I think you’ll find that’s you and your little sissy boyfriend over there.”

Alec waited for the blond boy to stop in front of him, Sebastian still had the grin on his face. He looked into the tormentor’s eyes, “you’re a monster.”

”And you’re a freak.”

Alec let out something close to a quiet growl before pushing Sebastian backwards, just in time - Izzy had arrived and kicked out her foot behind Sebastian. The boy fell back to the ground and let out a grunt as his head bashed against the floor.

Sebastian went to push himself up again but Alec quickly pinned him to the floor.

“If you’re going to torment me, you’re going to get what you deserve,” he hissed, eh lifted his fist, ready to throw it down against Sebastian’s face but he heard a gasp from Magnus. The gasp made him slowly bring his fist down. He glanced over his shoulder to Magnus who was giving him a ‘please don’t’ look. Alec gave him a nod, but in the next second his was flipped over with his back on the ground and Sebastian on top of him.

“Don’t turn your back, gay boy.” 

Sebastian let out a shrilling horrid laugh, he brought his own fist up and, unlike Alec, slammed the punch against Alec’s face. He didn’t care about the reactions, in fact he was laughing as he attacked Alec. A few punched late he was dragged off of Alec and onto his feet by Jace. 

Alec’s friends - even Clary, Simon and Izzy - circled around Sebastian to keep him in his place. Magnus had jumped down to Alec’s side, he helped Alec into a sitting position.

Sebastian stepped towards Jace, he gave him the same evil grin, “you’re all pathetic, looking after that freak.”

“You’re pathetic picking on someone,” Clary snapped from behind her brother, he turned to her quickly and laughed again.

“God, Miss goody two shoes strikes again.”

Clary surged forward and shoved her brother back into Jace, Jace caught him and gripped onto Sebastian. 

“You’re an asshole!”Clary yelled to him, “nobody around here likes you Sebastian, face it!”

“Oh shut up you stupid brat,” Sebastian spat back.

Before anything else could happen, Mr. Starkweather came rushing into the hallway, “hey! What’s going on out here?”

Magnus was the first to respond, “Sebastian has been tormenting Alec for a while, we didn’t know who it was until today.”

Mr. Starkweather looked over to Jace who was still gripping Sebastian, “let him go, Jace.”

Jace stared at Mr. Starkweather for a moment before letting go of the tormentor, the teacher waved Sebastian over to him and then walked him away from the group. 

***

Luckily, Clary came in the next day with the news that Sebastian had been expelled from the school after the students had handed in the evidence of the torment he had put Alec through. Every student was pleased to get rid of Sebastian, they didn’t need to worry about the creep any more. 

When Alec heard the news he hugged Clary with joy and then moved on to Magnus.

It was odd that not too long ago, he didn’t want to think about the past, he was looking forward to the future now that he had Magnus with him. As traumatic as the experience was, it was over now and he was happy with that. 

Everything was going to be calm and happy from now on, Alec was sure of that. Izzy was just happy that she and Alec got along like they used to, she had her brother back, and she’d never let him slip away again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the end, I'm sorry for the long gap between chapters. I had written this final chapter once but then my computer turned off and I hadn't saved it (like a doofus), but I finally managed to get around to finishing it, thank you for reading!!


End file.
